


The Gloomy Shade of Death

by nettaborealis



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Caroline Forbes Deserved Better, Emotional Hurt, Episode: s05e13 When the Saints Go Marching In, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Caroline Forbes, Hurt No Comfort, I Made Myself Cry, Niklaus Mikaelson Deserved Better, Not A Fix-It, Sad Ending, Unhappy Ending, and some deserved worse, but i digress, honestly everyone deserved better, if you're mean to me i'll curse at you in latin, why does Elena get a happy ending but Bonnie doesnt?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 22:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29500023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nettaborealis/pseuds/nettaborealis
Summary: With a guttural scream, she hurled the prism at the wall.ORAfter the death of the Original Hybrid, Caroline mourns.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	The Gloomy Shade of Death

But darkness and the gloomy shade of death

Environ you, till mischief and despair

Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!

> -William Shakespeare

Caroline walked out of the bar.

Caroline walked down the street. Caroline turned the corner. Caroline walked down the street. Caroline turned the corner. Caroline walked down the street. Caroline turned the corner. Caroline walked down the street. Caroline turned the corner.

Caroline stopped, and the door stared back at her.

Caroline-

…

Caroline walked down the street. Caroline turned the corner.

Caroline kept walking.

She pulled out her phone. It was almost five. She was expected home in the morning.

_Try this._

If she wanted to make it in time for the school day, she would need to hurry.

_One of you stands,_

Her phone was slipped back into her pocket, and she kept going, more swiftly now.

_Walks to the door,_

New Orleans’ ever-present music danced in the air, and the ghost of a smile pulled at her lips.

_But doesn’t turn back._

The warm summer breeze rushed through her hair, and she brushed strands out of her face.

_Even if their heart aches,_

People of all shapes and sizes laughed together in the street.

_For one more look,_

The sun was beginning to set, painting a train of colors across the horizon.

_One more moment,_

This city was truly beautiful. Caroline wondered why, in her lists of daydreamt travels, she never thought of the Crescent City.

_You’ll know that not looking just means…_

‘The City That Care Forgot’. A small huff of laughter escaped her lips.

_…I’ll never forget you._

Her stomach dropped.

…

Caroline kept walking.

Pretty little Barbie doll, sitting on the shelf. So pretty, so perfect. Flawless in every way. Friends die, and she smiles. Boyfriends die, and she smiles. Parents die, and she smiles. Husbands die, and she smiles. So Caroline kept smiling. She smiled at the airport, she smiled on the plane. She smiled when Lizzie and Josie met her at the doors. She smiled when she walked up to her room, greeting students as she went.

(Although it wasn’t really hers, was it? It belonged to Stefan, even after all these years. Not her. Never her.)

And she sat at his desk and rifled through her papers, vaguely noticing Lizzie’s prism sitting nearby. It was probably broken. Bonnie was out of town, and Caroline’s dear daughter would never see Emma of her own violation, so of course Mommy could fix it, Mommy could fix anything. One kiss, and your boo-boos were healed; one hug, and you know everything would be okay.

With a sigh, Caroline picked up the prism. She would have to bring it to Emma, then, if Lizzie wouldn’t.

But for just a moment, her eyes fell to the prism. For just a moment, she dared to imagine him sitting beside her, laughing and complaining and telling her of the beauty of the world, how she should come with him, just the two of them, so he could show it to her.

And maybe this time, she’d say yes.

_“Come on, get to know me.”_

Pretty little Barbie doll.

_“Don’t underestimate the allure of darkness.”_

Sitting on the shelf.

_“I don’t know how to say goodbye.”_

So pretty, so perfect.

_“I intend to be your last.”_

Flawless in every way.

_“It’s a reminder that in the end, we’re infinitely and utterly alone.”_

With a guttural scream, she hurled the prism at the wall.

It shattered, and she froze.

Oh, no.

She wasn’t supposed to do that.

_“You’re… perfect.”_

She wasn’t supposed to break.

_“Well, that’s why I like you.”_

Her hand drifted over the table.

_“You can have a thousand more birthdays.”_

Her fingers curled around the base of a lamp.

_“Do you understand me?”_

(Pretty little Barbie doll.)

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment.


End file.
